Waiting is an unusual condition for any mission undertaken by the United States Coast Guard. For the US CGC Healy, America’s only operational polar icebreaker, anchored just outside Nome, Alaska, it is the desired state for the moment.
Healy is the escort for the Russian tanker TV Renda and the mission was to convey critical fuel supplies to the icebound city of Nome. The mission began Jan. 3, entered the ice pack Jan. 6 and ended at just past sunset on Saturday, when the Renda anchored. Healy broke a path for the tanker through 300 miles of sea ice, and then did the same for the anchorage.
The wait is due to two equally critical safety issues. Working in the ice at night is dangerous and Nome only has five hours of daylight this time of year. The ice itself, in and around the two ships, is broken and about twelve hours of waiting is necessary for the ice to refreeze so that personnel from the ships and those on shore can work safely. Coast Guard CPO Kip Wadlow told me by telephone this morning that the Renda is anchored about 2,100 feet from the Nome causeway.
TV Renda is carrying 1.3 million gallons of diesel and gasoline for the city of Nome. Unloading the ship means laying one or two hoses from the ship to the intake valves on Nome’s causeway. The hoses will be laid across the ice and up a ramp constructed by Nome’s Public Works Department. It may take up to 48 hours to unload the tanker.
The mayor of Nome, Denise Michels, talked about safety precautions in an earlier interview. The city has a set of processes and procedures that it uses for fuel deliveries, which are usually by barge in the warmer months. These have been implemented and a safety zone established around all elements of the unloading. The public is barred from coming closer than 50 yards to the fuel hose and 100 yards of the ships and the fuel head on the causeway. Coast Guard Lt. Nicole Auth told us that the safety zone will be marked and that it will be lighted at night.
Twitter reports on the arrival of the two ships show intense interest by the 3,000 residents of this western Alaska coastal city. Photos have been posted showing dozens of vehicles parked with their passengers watching the two ships maneuver yesterday.
Sunrise in Nome is at 11:36 a.m. If ice conditions permit, the crew of the Renda will begin laying hose. Pumping will not begin until the Coast Guard, the Alaskan authorities and other agencies are agreed that it will be safe to do so. Temperatures in Nome are expected to rise today to a balmy 6 degrees with wind chills of minus 29. Snow showers are possible.
In a recent interview, CPO Wadlow pointed out that both ships still have to depart Nome. The crews of the Healy and the Renda face the same conditions returning to the open sea that they saw during the eight days it took for them to make their way to Nome through the ice.